Periodic Table -> Ununseptium

Ununseptium


Ununseptium Details

Ununseptium Symbol: Uus

Ununseptium Atomic Number: 117

Ununseptium Atomic Weight: (294)

What is Ununseptium?

Ununseptium - Uus has an atomic number of 117. Ununseptium is a temporary name. This is a super heavy element with an atomic weight of 294. It is also known as eka-astatine and element 117. Ununseptium is called element 117 because it has 117 protons and 117 electrons. Elements with such a high number of protons are not found free in nature. The heaviest element that occurs in nature has 92 protons (uranium). Heavier elements are made in research settings by using nuclear reactions to add more protons. Elements with more protons are generally unstable and decay quickly. Given that such elements decay quickly, it is difficult to predict their properties and find practical uses and applications. Scientists experiment with heavier elements to find out whether there are more elements before the island of stability is reached.

Properties, Oxidation States, and Isotopes
Ununseptium should be a metalloid and is one of the heaviest, artificially made elements. Its chemical and physical properties have not been sufficiently studied to date. The element’s density, electron configuration, and atomic radius are unknown and so are the ionization energy, phase, and melting and boiling points. Its Van Der Waals radius and electronegativity are also unknown. Ununseptium is expected to have 4 oxidation states - +5, +3, +1, and -1. The most stable oxidation state is +1 while the other states are less common. It is a group 17 element and is predicted to share properties such as ionization energy and melting and boiling points with other halogens, including astatine, iodine, bromine, chlorine, bromine, and fluorine. Uus is a period 7, p-block element with an expected density of 7.1 grams per cubic centimeter. Other p-block elements are xenon, iodine, germanium, and phosphorus. Ununseptium has several isotopes with extremely short half lives. The longest-lived isotopes are Uus-2293 and Uus-294. The half lives of its isotopes are up to 40 milliseconds. All of the isotopes decay radioactively. One possible compound of Uus is UusH.


Transuranium Elements and Their Properties
Transuranium elements such as Ununseptium are synthetically produced, and their atomic number is higher than 92. Transuranium elements such as nobelium, mendelevium, curium, plutonium, and neptunium are produced in laboratories such as the Society for Heavy Ion Research and JINR. They are usually named after world-famous scientists. Ununseptium is the second heaviest transuranium element after ununoctium. Temporary names are assigned prior to confirmation.

Discovery and Isotopes Detected
The first experiment took place in the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions in 2009. Two isotopes were detected, Uus-293 and Uus-294. Two years later, scientists were successful in isolating the isotope Uus-289, and the initial experiment was successfully repeated in 2012. Researchers at the Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research confirmed the discovery of Ununseptium during the same year.

Role and Uses
There are no known uses outside of basic research and experimental chemistry. Uus is not found free in nature, and its environmental and health effects have not been studied.



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